Lauderdale County District 2 Supervisor Wayman Newell may pay the county back a little more than $1,000 in compensation for the salaries of three men who cleaned up private property for five days.

In response to complaints about an overgrown cemetery on 10th Avenue in Meridian, Newell used some county workers, most of which he said were high school students hired by the county for summer work, to clean up the property.

Newell was advised by the board of supervisors attorney, Rick Barry, that an interlocal agreement between the city and county, initiated by the city of Meridian, would be required to continue that kind of work.

But, Newell said Friday that the Mississippi State Auditor’s office has informed him he will be fined for using county workers to clean up private property.

Lisa Shoemaker, a spokesperson with the state auditor’s office said Friday that the cemetery property had been determined to be privately owned, which would prevent the use of county workers for clean up. She confirmed the amount of money in question is about $1,000, but said the auditor’s office is still looking into the situation.

“This investigation is in no way concluded,” Shoemaker said. “We typically don’t comment on ongoing investigations.”

Newell said he initially thought an existing interlocal agreement, through which the county helps to tear down condemned houses in Meridian, would have allowed for the clean up of cemeteries.

Newell said his research shows that the cemetery in question is abandoned and was owned by T.J. Wilson Lodge 113, an organization now disbanded. Newell isn’t even sure what type of organization that lodge represented.

“To my understanding there are World War I, World War II, Vietnam soldiers, Korean, and possibly Confederate soldiers buried there,” Newell said. “I was just trying to be a public servant.”